Not "strictly" better than Cancel nor "strictly" worse than Counterspell. There are situations when this is worse than Cancel, and there are situations where it is better than Counterspell. Those situations won't pop up too often, so I will say it is better than Cancel but worse than Counterspell, just not "strictly".
This is better played on later turns when you can afford the land bounce. The land bounce will hurt you early on, but on later turns, this is better than Cancel since you only have to keep two mana free. Also, this is highly playable in situations where you can abuse landfall.
4/5
Posted By:
agalloch
(4/18/2010 10:34:10 AM)
Becomes much better when you realize that Wizards isn't gonna reprint Counterspell, making this cheaper than the competition.
Posted By:
ClockworkSwordfish
(10/31/2010 10:13:23 PM)
When you realize that counterspell isn't getting reprinted this card suddenly begins to look better and better. In a world where the most versatile counter was cancel, then arose deprive and mana leak...
And plus there are plenty of decent counters like countersquall and hinder light.
Posted By:
tabiwasan
(8/1/2010 3:07:48 PM)
Counterspell isn't ever going to get reprinted in a set that would be Standard legal. Sure, you'll see it in duel decks, but never anything else. Get used to seeing functional reprints like this. At least with recent ones like this, Unified Will and Scars of Mirrodin's upcoming Stoic Rebuttal we know that Wizards is getting better at making functional reprints for all kinds of players. Solid 3/5. Glad to see this thing made.
Posted By:
sarroth
(9/13/2010 10:05:59 AM)
Return Glimmerpost to your hand in a Cloudpost/Glimmerpost deck. Gain a bunch of life for putting it back out.
Posted By:
SeiberTross
(2/15/2011 8:08:51 PM)
I like it.
Posted By:
AngelxLegna
(4/16/2010 8:30:23 AM)
G/U deck, here I come!!
Posted By:
coyotemoon722
(4/23/2010 12:32:01 PM)
It costs two, but it's no second turn counter. Anywho, I like.
Posted By:
izzet_guild_mage
(4/27/2010 3:07:17 PM)
This is usually strictly worse than Counterspell, but it has its advantages. Bouncing a land can be beneficial when using landfall, and it also works well with Halimar Depths, which is even in color! Besides, decks running counterspells are by nature much more likely to make it into the late game than most decks. One land at that point is not really a big deal, especially since you can play it again later.
But more importantly is how it compares to "new" counterspells. Well, name a recent universal hard counter for two mana that's better than this. I thought so. When running this over Cancel, you get an additional land you can tap during your turn if you want to be on guard for key spells. When running this over the situational counters, you have more space in your deck and fewer chances of having the wrong counterspell.
I love this card, and while it's no Counterspell, we need to get over that... (see all)
Posted By:
SleetFox
(4/18/2010 1:55:29 PM)
Strictly worse than Counterspell.
Posted By:
LeoKula
(4/15/2010 9:58:19 AM)